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The Financial Health of Our Organizations: COMTA

This is my second year of doing an annual report on the financial status of the major non-profit organizations of the massage therapy profession. I am not an accountant or a financial expert. This information was taken directly from FORM 990, the Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is published on Guidestar.

COMTA is the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation. Obtaining accreditation from COMTA is a voluntary and rigorous process that few schools choose to go through; of the hundreds of massage schools and programs in the US, only about 100 have the credential. It is a banner of excellence, requiring that the school do an in-depth self-study and meet high standards meant to insure that they are offering a program and learning environment of the highest caliber.

Non-profits are on a different filing schedule than the rest of us; this form covers the fiscal year of COMTA from 03/01/08 to 02/28/09, and was filed in January of 2010.

COMTA appears to be another organization that has taken a hit due to the recession. In this particular case, COMTA’s financial state this year may be partially attributed to the fact that AMTA’s fiscal year ending 2008 filing shows a grant of over $261,000 to COMTA; no such contribution was forthcoming in the fiscal year ending in 2009. In fact, COMTA’s Schedule A shows that 2008 was the first year that they haven’t received grants totaling at least $240,oo0.

When a non-profit depends largely on grants and public support, and a recession hits, that’s not a good thing. COMTA’s return is showing a deficit of over $277,000 for the year. Expenses go on, whether there’s money coming in or not. And of course COMTA does not rely only on largesse; the organization received $271K in program revenues and investment income, but expenses were just a few thousand dollars short of being twice that amount.

For the fiscal year, the balance sheets show assets of $462,165 at the beginning of the fiscal year, and only $191,213 at the end of the fiscal year. COMTA’s expenses do reflect a decrease of about $15K spent on site visits to schools. The 2008 Form reflects that the then-Executive Director, Stephen Fridley, received a little over $49,000 that year, down from $66K the previous year; that may be accounted for his departure in the midst of a fiscal year; Kate Henrioulle, the present ED, took over the job May 1 of 2009.

In the general scheme of things, I’d like to see the number of schools and programs that are COMTA-approved multiplied exponentially. The organization has been approved by the US Department of Education as an accrediting body since 2002. In order for the organization to be self-supporting, that really needs to happen.

When a recession hits, and donations dry up, only those organizations that can make it without those grants and contributions can survive. And part of the fallout of the recession is not only a lack of grant money, but also that schools who perhaps had planned on seeking COMTA approval may have held off in the past couple of years due to their own financial  issues. Hopefully COMTA isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

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The Financial Health of Our Organizations: AMTA

This marks the second year I have reported on the financial health of the non-profit organizations that represent the massage profession. I am not an accountant or a financial expert. The information reported here comes directly from Form 990 as filed with the IRS; non-profits are obligated to make their tax reports public knowledge, and these can be easily accessed on Guidestar.

Last year I reported that the American Massage Therapy Association had taken a hard hit from the recession. The AMTA has gone through some major changes this year, not the least of which was the sudden departure of Elizabeth Lucas, the former Executive Director. Lucas’ compensation accounts for a big chunk of change on the filing, $279,438 to be exact, almost $6000 less than last year. Shelly Johnson, the former Assistant Executive Director who is currently Interim Executive Director, actually received $14,000 more in 2009 than she did the previous year. I personally support Shelly for moving permanently into Lucas’ vacated position; I do have to say, however, that I thought Lucas was overcompensated and I hope that the next ED, whomever it is, will not be getting more money than the governor of most states, which was formerly the situation. Compensation overall increased by $144,004. Since the membership dues collected went down by over $150,000, and the total revenues have declined by $459,000 since the previous year, I have to wonder why we’re paying out more money to provide services for less people.

The balance sheet shows accounts payable of almost $3.5 million and accounts receivable of only $241K.

AMTA spent $40K less on lobbyists during the 2009 fiscal year than 2008. I’m not sure that’s a good move, unless the organization is sending out board members in place of the lobbyists. When it comes to protecting the legal rights of massage therapists and putting a stop to detrimental legislation, I think that’s one of the obligations of this organization to the stakeholders. I’d rather see the lobbyists paid and that money cut somewhere else.

Travel expenses were cut again this year by about 15K, but office expenses rose by more than twice that amount. In fairness, total functional expenses decreased by $568K, so they’re saving money somewhere. Total net assets declined; total liabilities increased, which is still a move in the wrong direction.  Grants and assistance to organizations declined by over $265,000. The main beneficiary of that money has in the past been the Massage Therapy Foundation; hence Ruth Werner’s presentation at the open BOD meeting in Minneapolis about the necessity of seeking other partners to support the Foundation sounds all the more like a good plan to me.

AMTA is certainly not alone in being fiscally challenged by the economy. In the coming weeks I will be reporting on financial status of the other non-profit organizations. I need to say that I am a card-carrying member of AMTA, and reporting on their finances is obligatory to me as one who tries to keep up with what’s going on in the world of massage and keep my readers informed. I report the news, whether it’s good or bad, and that doesn’t always suit everybody all of the time. I don’t apologize for it.

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New Board Members at NCBTMB

The certificants have spoken: the new Board members have been elected at the NCBTMB. I have shamelessly lifted their bios from the NCBTMB website and their own websites.

Michele Baker, LMT, NCTMB, CVA of Jackson, MS has been serving as Treasurer. She was reelected for a four-year term.

Michele Baker is owner/operator of To Your Health! Therapeutic Massage Associates, an exclusive, referrals-only outcall service in the deep South. Her practice offers Swedish massage, pregnancy massage, reflexology treatments, deep tissue, neuromuscular therapy, aromatherapy, Reiki and ear candling. For the past five years, she has also taught at two schools of therapeutic massage and mentored dozens of therapists.

In 2008, Baker was awarded a Certification in Volunteer Administration (CVA), the only international professional certification in the field of volunteer resources management.

Baker received a bachelor’s degree from University of Arkansas and graduated at the top of her class from the Mississippi School of Therapeutic Massage.

Baker divides her time between massage therapy, volunteering and growing her new business, Treasures of Egypt Tours, LLC.  When not traveling internationally or teaching massage, she spends her time baking and working on a reference manual of massage and healthcare treatments for common ailments.

Judy Silcock from Idaho was elected for a four-year term. Judy has been serving as a volunteer with the NCBTMB since 1999. That’s important, because she has seen the best of the best and the worst of the worst during her tenure on various committees there. She knows the history and has experience that I feel is important.

Idaho is an unregulated state. Many therapists there have National Certification because it sets them apart as professionals. Judy is also very interested in seeing regulation come to Idaho, is working towards that effort, and I feel she will play a balanced roll between the regulatory faction and the certification faction. Judy would like to see Idaho accept both the MBLEx and the NCB exams, a philosophy that I personally support. Judy got started on her career in massage therapy back in 1969, so I think she’s seen it all by this point in time and has a lot to bring to the table. I supported her as a candidate.

Bruce Baltz, whom I also supported, was elected to serve a three-year term.

Bruce, founder of SpiriPhysical® Inc., is a licensed massage therapist in New York and Florida and an internationally recognized educator with over twenty-eight years experience in the fitness and bodywork industry. Bruce has developed Deep Tissue Healing; “The Art of Stone Massage” in 1999 and more recently has been teaching Active Isolated Stretching (AIS): The Spa Method approved by Aaron Mattes. He has been serving on the CE Committee at the NCBTMB since 2007. He is on board with my desire for seeing the organization offer advanced specialty certifications, and I know he will work towards that. He also has managerial experience, which I consider a plus for this position.

Rhonda D. Reif, MBA;LMT;RM;NCTMB of Iowa was elected to serve a one-year term. She is a Holistic Health Practitioner. She is the owner of the Stress Management Center (a private practice), Holistic Horizons (a school of the Healing Arts), and Fier & Sol Seminars. She currently conducts workshops and classes on Holistic Healing Modalities and the Healing Arts.

These folks officially take office on Jan.1, along with the new chair, Alexa Zaledonis.

Alexa Zaledonis is the owner/operator of Even Keel Wellness Spa, a therapeutic massage and skin care center in Annapolis, Maryland. Even Keel employs seven full-time and several part-time employees who specialize in Thai, sports and rehabilitative massage.

A graduate of the Baltimore School of Massage, she passed the NCE in 2002 and has spent the past seven years building her practice in the community.  Zaledonis is a certified Lotus Palm Thai Yoga Massage practitioner and a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength Professionals Association. Zaledonis currently is completing her Yoga Teacher Training (RYT200). She also teaches Thai Massage and small business seminars at Even Keel Institute for Continuing Education and is an NCBTMB-approved provider.

A former Certified Public Accountant (a skill I am happy to see the chair of the NCBTMB possess), Zaledonis specialized in healthcare and nonprofit organizations for more than 15 years. She received her bachelor’s degree from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut.

Congratulations and good luck to all the new Board members.  It is my wish for them all that they follow their conscience and their heart; that they refuse to blindly follow the leader; and that they do their best to help lead the NCBTMB into a new period of growth and sustainability.

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The 3 R’s: Research, Regulation, and Raising Standards

Yesterday, I had shared on my FB a post from Ruth Werner, President of the Massage Therapy Foundation, entitled “Who Needs Research Literacy?“. I commented on that that all massage schools need to ramp it up and start including research literacy as part of their core curriculum.

That garnered a comment from a fellow massage therapist that schools wouldn’t start teaching it unless there was a regulatory requirement that they do. I hope that isn’t true.

I think the MTF has been doing a great job of spreading the word in the massage community. And there are so many industry supporters as well. The MTF transcends politics, as I have said before. The AMTA, ABMP, and NCBTMB all contribute. Massage Warehouse, Massage Envy, Biofreeze, and others have done a lot to raise money and raise awareness. I blab about it a lot myself on my blog and to my networks.

Research literacy does not imply that we expect massage schools to start teaching advanced statistics or turn out the next Tiffany Field. According to Ruth’s post, research literacy means being able to:

1. Find a pertinent article

2. Read and understand it

3. Critically evaluate its credibility

4. Apply findings to practice

5. And if you’re really paying attention, come up with some more questions to ask about it…

Why would any school wait for regulation to force the issue of raising standards, in the interest of improving the education of students, which in this case could potentially have such effects as raising the credibility and profile of massage therapy in general, not to mention giving their therapists a leg up in their career? Physicians are impressed by research. Research benefits clients; any time a therapist has more knowledge of a condition they’re presented with, that applies directly to their practice in the planning of treatment and client education.

Research literacy can increase the marketability and prosperity of the massage therapist. I’ve been offering a CE class in “Using Research to Market Your Massage Therapy Practice” recently, and the prevailing comment from students is “I never thought about using research until now.” My class surveys show that hardly anyone attending my classes had been introduced to research literacy in massage school.

My colleague said verbal admonitions and challenges wouldn’t spur schools to pick up the cause of teaching research literacy, and I hope to prove him wrong. I urge you right now, if you’re a school owner or director, to start including it in your program, and don’t wait for regulation that may never come. It isn’t about regulation; it is about you voluntarily raising the standards in your corner of the world.

The Massage Therapy Foundation has help available. If you are with a school and you’re interested in the Teaching Research Literacy program, click here: http://www.massagetherapyfoundation.org/teach.html

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Taking the Long Way Home

It’s been over two weeks since my last blog post. I’m usually more prolific, but sometimes the rest of my life has to take precedence over my blog. I’ve been on the road a lot the last two weeks, and when I’ve been home, I’ve been trying to catch up…I don’t know that I can ever really catch up. I can be like that Energizer bunny for long periods of time, and then eventually, I’m going to crash. This has been one of those times.

I attended the meeting of the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy yesterday. I’m a member of that Board, and it was a 10-hour meeting, somewhat emotional for me…and it dragged on until 8 pm last night. This morning at 9, I was back at the Board office bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a License Standards Committee meeting. Thank goodness, that one only lasted three hours. I walked out into the sunshine, retrieved my car from the parking garage, and headed west on 1-40.

As is usually the case in the Triangle, traffic was crazy. People are either going 90 miles an hour–no joke–and even if you are, somebody will be on your rear-end acting like you should go faster in order to get out of their way–or it’s at a standstill due to some wreck or construction or both. After going about 20 miles, I decided to take the long way home. I hit the Lake Jordan exit and in just a couple of minutes I was on a country road, passing rolling farmland, fruit stands with pumpkins displayed, rolled hay in the fields ready to be put up. I rolled down the window and took a few deep breaths. I crossed the lake, not a boat in sight. When I made it to the Uwharrie National Forest, I pulled over for a few minutes and got out of the car. I wasn’t dressed for hiking, but it was tempting just to disappear into the woods.

This has been a busy month for me personally, and I’ve been remiss in not reporting some of the things that have gone on in the massage world. Here’s a short recap:

For the first time in history, AMTA decided to let candidates for the election have more access to the members than the short statements that have traditionally been the only thing they were allowed to have. Most of them have a Facebook page…one caveat is that they all have a disclaimer that the candidate has the right to remove statements from their wall if they are deemed inappropriate, and apparently a few of them think that means anything negative. I’ve heard some complaints from members who asked a question or made a comment and got deleted. There wasn’t any profanity, racial slurs, or anything else inappropriate, just a question or two that warranted an honest answer that the candidate wasn’t apparently ready to answer. Still, it’s a good thing that they’re interacting with people and having more of a chance to let the membership get to know them before the vote, which starts next month. I have a blog on my picks for the seats.

The Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards held their annual meeting in San Juan, PR. I didn’t attend that meeting this year but apparently it was busy and productive. Kevin Snedden (MO), Kathy Jensen (IO), Susan Beam (NC), and Phyliss Salyers (TN) were all reelected to BOD seats. Scott Miller declined to serve another term, and his seat went to Billie Shea of NV. The good news of the meeting was that the start-up loan was paid off in full 27 months early.

I received a lot of emails this month from therapists in NY complaining about new CE requirements; most weren’t complaining about the prospect of learning something new, just the cost. I got a lot of “what can we do about this?” -type questions, and the short answer is, nothing. Action has to be taken before something becomes a law, not after the fact.

I have also heard from some folks in PA, where regulation is brand-new and in fact is still in process. It is expected that the initial rules will be finalized in December. Applications are already available on their website. Apparently the OT board, the PT board, and the insurance commission are objecting to the terminology “therapeutic massage” being used in the Practice Act. I hope that objection doesn’t go anywhere, and I urge PA therapists to contact your legislators and stand up for yourself. We all know that massage is therapeutic and I don’t believe in standing idly by while a turf war goes on. Why wouldn’t they want the word “therapeutic” used in conjunction with massage? Maybe the insurance commission is afraid they might have to pay for a massage if it’s deemed to be therapeutic, God forbid. Do not sit on your hands.

The National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork elections are open until Nov 1. I have a blog about my picks for the seats. This is a crucial time for the NCBTMB. Alex Zaledonis will be stepping into the Chair on January 1. The N-CAP, the new advanced certification exam, is in progress and will be the beginning of a new era for the NCB. It’s vitally important for certificants to vote.

We should never forget that in any people-driven organization, no matter which one it is, that one or two egomaniacs can manage to get themselves at the top and cause a lot of damage. Whether you are a certificant of the NCBTMB, a member of AMTA, a member of your state board, or any other membership organization, you have a right, and I would go so far as to say a responsibility, to take part in the election process. When detrimental legislation is on the horizon, and you don’t take any action, I think we’ve all seen what happens when complacency and disinterest set in.

I’m sure there’s a lot more going on that I just haven’t caught up with yet. In the past month, in addition to attending the AMTA national convention, meeting my family at the Outer Banks two days later for our annual reunion which this year included a monsoon the whole time, coming home from that and attending another family reunion the very next day, hosting my dear friends from Ireland, going to Atlanta to teach a class one day and Charlotte to teach the next, proofing the galleys for my new book, running my office, running my household, making time for dates with my husband, teaching at my own facility, trying to get next year’s CE schedule set, attending the board meeting and the committee meeting, and trying to squeeze time for playing a little music in between, sometimes it just catches up with me instead of me catching up with it. Sometimes, it’s just time to take the long way home.

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My Picks for the NCBTMB Election

November 1 is the deadline for voting for new Board of Director members at the NCBTMB.

This was not an easy task for me this time; almost everyone of these people is on my Facebook, and several of them are people that I actually know in person. It was a very hard call for me to choose one over another, and I don’t intend any bad reflection on the ones I didn’t choose. I always admire it when anyone is willing to step up to the plate and volunteer for what is basically a thankless job. Service on any board is very time-consuming, requires conference calls that drag on for hours, travel, causes people to miss work, home, time with family, and cuts into whatever other obligations they may have.

My first pick is Bruce Baltz. I have met Bruce on several occasions, and got to talk with him at length a few weeks ago at AMTA in MN. Bruce is an educator and has been serving on the CE Committee at the NCBTMB since 2007. He is on board with my desire for seeing the organization offer advanced specialty certifications, and I know he will work towards that. He also has managerial experience, which I consider a plus for this position. I admire him; I think he has a lot to contribute, and he gets my vote.

I am supporting Steve Earles from GA. I have personally met Steve; he attended a class I taught in GA a couple of years ago and we have stayed in touch. Steve has been serving on the GA Board; his term is already over, and he is continuing to serve because they have not appointed anyone else to take his place. Like many of us, Steve came to massage later in life, after a successful first career (working for the airlines.)

I appreciate the fact that Steve acknowledges the past difficulties of the NCBTMB in his candidate statement–and that they printed it, because there was a period of time when that wouldn’t have happened. He is ready, willing, and able to help bring in new energy. He has been active on the AMTA Government Relations Committee since 2007. He gets my vote.

I am also supporting Pualani Gillespie. For my long-time blog readers, you know that wasn’t always the case. I did in fact support Pua back in a previous election, and later rescinded that support. However, I spent a lot of time talking with Pua at the AFMTE meeting in Utah earlier this year, and she and I came to an agreement and a shared philosophy on a number of points. She is a founding member of AFMTE, serves their Ethics and Standards Committee; has volunteered for the NCBTMB for several years and is currently the Chair of their Ethics and Standards Committee, and is also currently the President of the Hawaii chapter of AMTA. I think Pua possesses humility, which is an attractive quality for a person serving on a Board to have. I think Pua will be balanced, and a peace-maker, and I think that is a necessary trait at this point in the evolution of the NCBTMB and their relationships with other organizations that Pua is involved with.

I am supporting Judy Silcock from Idaho. Judy has been serving as a volunteer with the NCBTMB since 1999. That’s important, because she has seen the best of the best and the worst of the worst during her tenure on various committees there. She knows the history and has experience that I feel is important. I have never met Judy, but I called her yesterday and spoke with her to find out more about her experience and opinions. Idaho is an unregulated state. Many therapists there have National Certification because it sets them apart as professionals. Judy is also very interested in seeing regulation come to Idaho, is working towards that effort, and I feel she will play a balanced roll between the regulatory faction and the certification faction. Judy would like to see Idaho accept both the MBLEx and the NCB exams, a philosophy that I personally support. Judy got started on her career in massage therapy back in 1969, so I think she’s seen it all by this point in time and has a lot to bring to the table. She gets my vote.

Everyone who is Nationally Certified has the right to vote, and I hope that right is exercised by all. It’s just like any other election: if you don’t vote, don’t complain! Voting is available online on the NCBTMB website.

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Report from AMTA National Convention

I attended the AMTA National Convention in Minneapolis this week and had a great time, catching up with old friends, meeting new ones, and running all over the place. Minneapolis is a beautiful city; very clean and I felt safe on the street at night, and the people were very hospitable. Here are some of the high points:

Tuesday I attended the Board of Directors meeting. It was business as usual, until Ruth Werner took her place at the table to talk about the Massage Therapy Foundation. Since I’m known for being plain-spoken myself, I appreciate it whenever anyone lays it on the line, and that’s exactly what Ruth did. She stated that while the AMTA and the MTF are bound together in perpetuity, that in order to survive and thrive, the Foundation must seek additional partners for support. She also said that the rumblings about the MTF being ungrateful to AMTA are entirely false, and I agree. AMTA may be the biggest donor to the MTF (this year the donation exceed $500,000), but they’re not the only ones, and we need to be thankful to ABMP, the NCBTMB, Massage Warehouse, and all the other entities and individuals that step up to the plate. I’ve said before that the MTF transcends politics, and it certainly ought to. I personally think it’s the safest and best strategy to have many smaller donors; if there’s only one big one, and finances don’t allow for the usual donation, it could really hurt the Foundation. My own words–not Ruth’s–all the whiny people need to shut up, and that goes double if you’re not putting your money where your mouth is.

Wednesday night I attended the annual Lippincott author’s dinner. It was hosted by Kelley Squazzo, Shauna Kelly, and Linda Francis, my editor whom I hold in high regard. Present were Ralph Stephens, Pat Archer, Ruth Werner, Mary Beth Braun, Diana Thompson, Tracy Walton, Leslie Young Giase, Carole Osborne, and Les Sweeney. I hope I didn’t miss anybody. I’m always a little star-struck and very grateful to be a member of such an illustrious group of people. Lippincott has so many talented massage therapists in their stable of authors. These aren’t just people who decided to write a book. They are working massage therapists and educators and the cream of the crop. The restaurant, 112 Eatery, had an eclectic menu including house-made charcuterie. Leslie asked the waiter to describe the gruyere et mortadella sandwich, to which he replied “cheese and baloney.” HA! You can dress up anything if you list it in a foreign language. It was all good.

President Kathleen Miller-Read gave an opening speech about balance, the theme of this year’s meeting. The keynote speaker at the meeting was Dr. Loyd Frank Jarrell, a chiropractor, who carried on with the theme. While Jarrell didn’t say anything offensive, he was not what I would call a dynamic speaker, and I personally would have preferred to see a massage therapist doing the keynote speech. Some of our past keynote presenters have rocked the auditorium–Judith Aston comes to mind–and Jarrell was more of a big yawn. I also heard a little sniping about Miller-Read giving the President’s Award to her sister, Maureen Moon. To that I can just say boo-hoo; the President has the right to give it to anyone she chooses, and like Miller-Read, Moon has had almost 30 years of service to AMTA.

I attended a great class from the Research Track, Steps Toward Massage Therapy Guidelines: A First Report to the Profession. While it was a good class and well-presented, I personally signed up for it because Ravensara Travillian was listed as one of the teachers, and she wasn’t there. She was probably out digging up some invertebrates or something of that nature–she’s a very busy and multi-talented woman–but I was still disappointed that the class didn’t include her.

I also attended the COMTA training session for peer evaluators. Some of you may recall that I had a little snarkfest with COMTA earlier this year on my blog, and Kate Henrouille, the Executive Director, had personally invited me to attend the COMTA meeting, so I did. It was a good session and I’m glad I went.

The convention was Party Central this year, too. I attended the President’s Reception with Sally and Ed Hacking. Sally is the undisputed Queen of Government Relations in this profession and currently works with the FSMTB. I’m hoping for some of her knowledge to rub off on me.

I went to several chapter socials, but one of the biggest bangs was the Facebook Friends gathering at Brit’s Pub Thursday night. About 300 of us converged on the Pub and I don’t think they believed the organizers who had warned them that a big crowd was going to show up. The place was packed and I stood at the bar about 15 minutes waiting for a beer. It was a blast.

Friday night, I attended the Massage Envy party, the Massage Therapy Foundation reception, and the Massage Today party. All three were great fun. The highlight was Angie Patrick receiving the Bob and Kathy King Humanitarian Award at the Foundation event. Angie works tirelessly for this profession and it’s great that she was recognized for it.

I didn’t get the count on how many therapists attended this year. I think the economy probably kept it from being as well-attended as last year’s meeting. There were also less exhibitors in the vendor hall. Notably absent was the NCBTMB and the AFMTE. AMTA made the decision to deny both of those organizations a booth, which I personally think was a very poor choice and one that I hope is rescinded by next year’s meeting. I have stated that on this blog and I also wrote a letter of complaint about it to the recently-departed Executive Director, Liz Lucas, just before she left the organization a mere three weeks before the convention. Lucas’ service to AMTA was mentioned by Miller-Read during her opening speech, and also by acting Interim Director, Shelly Johnson.

Speaking of Johnson, I had several opportunities to talk to her this week, and I have decided to throw my support to her for the Executive Director position. No word yet on who else is in the running, but that’s irrelevant to me. Johnson has years of experience as the deputy in that position, and I think she deserves her shot. I hope the BOD will give it to her.

I also attended the Teacher’s Networking Luncheon on Friday and witnessed Melissa Wheeler being honored as the Jerome Perlinski Teacher of the Year. I later had the opportunity to speak with her. She was a good choice for the honor.

As is usually the case when I go to National, the high point for me was connecting with people. I was glad to see so many friends there, including a lot of our NC Posse, meet a lot of my FB friends and blog supporters in person, and as always, there’s something magical and awesome about being with over a thousand people who do what we do. Next year’s meeting will be in Portland, OR. I hope to see you there!

You can see all the pictures I took at the meeting here.

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IMA Insurance: Up in Smoke, Therapists Burned

The saga of the now-defunct IMA (International Massage Association) continues. Back in July, Will Green, owner/founder of IMA, basically admitted to sabotaging his own company by failing to turn over $600,000 in insurance premiums paid by massage therapists to the insurance company.

Markel, a respectable insurance company who had been underwriting IMA’s policies since Feb 1, 2008, discontinued writing policies for IMA on April 6, 2010 due to Green’s non-payment of premiums. However, contrary to some propaganda put out by AMC (American Massage Council), Markel is continuing to honor the policies they underwrote through the expiration date on the policy if it was purchased between Feb 1, 2008 and April 6, 2010, in spite of not receiving the premium payments from IMA.

Les Sweeney, President of ABMP, in a letter to former and renewing IMA members, personally spoke with a senior executive at Markel and confirmed Markel’s commitment not to leave therapists in the lurch. According to Sweeney’s letter, AMC’s announcement amounts to nothing more than a scare tactic, and one that is certainly not needed by the therapists who are already confused and scared that their insurance went up in smoke. ABMP, incidentally, has had the same insurance underwriter for more than ten years and does not need to resort to such tactics in order to attract new members.

Incredibly, Mr. Green is now trying to sell insurance through NAMT (National Association of Massage Therapists).

Let me put this in perspective. Let’s say that I, Laura Allen, take your hard-earned money and promise you an insurance policy. Then I take that money and blow it instead of paying the premiums to the underwriter like I am supposed to do. Should I then expect you to say, “that’s okay, Laura, and here’s some more of my hard-earned money and you can just sell me a new policy. I’m sure you really didn’t mean to cheat me out of that first money I paid you.” Duh.

According to a letter dated 09/10/2010 from the NAMT staff and Will Green, over 3,000 MTs have signed on with NAMT in the past 18 months. Since Green didn’t admit to his improprieties until July 2010, I truly wonder if any of that $600,000 he admitted to frittering away went in any way to pay bills at NAMT. I am purely speculating, but $600,000 is a lot of money. I personally think the therapists who had insurance with IMA at the time of Green’s announcement deserve a line-by-line accounting of exactly where that money went.

It is also totally scary to me that the website for IMA is still up, no mention of the insurance fiasco is on it, and in fact there is a video starring Will Green stating that he manages over 90 associations. He also talks about having spent $3 million on his organic farm. Maybe you can call him up and demand a bushel of turnips in exchange for the money you paid to IMA.

It has also been charged that Green is being investigated by the FBI, a charge that he categorically denies. There is no telling how much of the swirling rumors are true, but one thing is for certain: I would not give my money a second time to someone who has already done me wrong. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

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Rick Rosen: Time for the Next Chapter

Rick Rosen is Executive Director of the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE), and has been one of the driving forces in the massage profession for almost three decades. He is also co-owner of Body Therapy Institute (BTI) in Siler City, North Carolina, along with his wife Carey Smith. The couple announced this week that they are retiring from the massage school business. They are putting BTI up for sale and will be moving to the Big Island of Hawaii within the next 12-18 months.

Rosen has covered a lot of territory during his service to our profession. Inducted this year into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame, he was the founding Chairman of the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, and was one of the first Presidents of the North Carolina Chapter of AMTA. He was also a co-founder and the first Executive Director of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards. Rosen’s commitment as Executive Director of AFMTE runs through the end of this year, and he has offered to extend that if needed. “I may be completing this phase of my career as a massage school director, but I’m open to further exploration of how I may continue to be of service to the massage therapy profession at large” said Rosen, in a letter announcing his transition plans.

Carey Smith was the 2009 recipient of AMTA’s Jerome Perlinski Teacher of the Year Award, and has pioneered teacher training for massage educators. She and her husband have co-directed the Body Therapy Institute for 17 years. Founded by Rosen in 1983, BTI was the first school of massage therapy in the Carolinas, and has become one of the most respected massage schools in the nation. Located on a beautiful 156-acre property known as South Wind Farm. BTI is one of only two COMTA-approved schools in NC. During the past year, 100% of the school’s graduates passed the NCE and MBLEx on their first try. The school has long been known as a center of excellence, thanks to these two leaders and their dedicated faculty.

While expressing that they will miss the farm, the school and their staff, the couple is looking forward to the next chapter of their lives so they can have more time for creative endeavors. Rosen noted, “We invite prospective students all the time to come to massage school to pursue their goals and dreams. Now it’s time for our next great adventure.”

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What’s in a Name?

I’m abandoning my politics for a moment to have a little rant about something else: modality names.

Rolfing, Feldenkrais, and Trager, for example, are what I would describe as old classics. They’ve been around for many decades, and came about when bodywork and/or movement therapies were still in their infancy, at least in the Western world.

I’ve seen a trend recently, though, that I have to confess bothers me, and that’s the plethora of people naming techniques after themselves.

Last week, I made a post on one of my networks that I was looking for instructors for next year’s lineup of continuing education. I was a little bit shocked that half of the respondents sent me proposals for modalities that they have named after themselves. I’m going to be nice and not name any of these people, or their modalities. I must confess, though, that my first thought whenever I hear about a “new” modality that someone has named after him or herself, is usually that they’re being pretty presumptuous to think that they have actually invented something new, or that they’re on an ego trip.

A rather uppity young man who needed taking down a few notches told my chiropractor the other day that he had invented the “muscle elongation technique.” The chiropractor laughed out loud and said, “Son, don’t kid yourself, I learned that in chiropractic school in 1984.”

I can think of a number of modalities that are kind of unusual that actually could have excusably been named after their developer, but they aren’t, and even a number of massage therapy instructors who are internationally well known, that have resisted the urge to name their techniques after themselves. Kudos to them.

Everything old is new again, as the saying goes. But when I think back on all the things I learned in massage school and all the CE classes I’ve taken in the years since, I think about the basics…the movements of Swedish massage, the trigger point work, the myofascial release techniques, the joint mobilization modalities, and even the energy work. It is what it is.

In my opinion, we’re all standing on the bodywork path because someone trail-blazed the way for us years ago. I tend to take all those things that I’ve learned over the years and roll them into an eclectic mixture of whatever I’m led to do with a specific client on a specific day. What works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another.

And don’t hold your breath waiting for “The Laura Allen Method.”  It isn’t on the horizon.